As a religious studies minor, and having taught comparative religions courses, I'd suggest a few books-
For the Asian religions: "Religions of Asia" by Ninian Smart- covers the basics of Hinduism, Buddhism, the Jain tradition, the Sikh tradition, Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto, and Islam in Asia. This does a great overview of the different traditions, their history, and their various forms as they've been assimilated into different cultures. And it's not too long and has pictures! ISBN 0137724276
For the Indigenous/Traditional/Animistic Religions: "Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion" 6th ed., edited by Arthur Lehmann, James Myers, and Pamela Moro. The 5th ed. has some good stuff too, but I'll just stick with the 6th. It's a good overview, but I'd thumb through at the library and pick out articles specifically on what you're looking for. It's a pretty massive book and lots of stuff wouldn't apply too much to your situation. A few good articles to look up in this volume:
"Female Circumcision in Egypt and Sudan" by Daniel Gordon (some insight into this very controversial issue)
"Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" by Horace Miner (this is a great article that lets students- and teachers- know what it is like to view US culture from an outsider's perspective)
"On the Peyote Road" by Kiyaani and Csordas (Native American Church- they do traditional rituals with peyote as their ancestors did- another controversial and interesting topic)
"A School for Medicine Men" by Robert Bergman (another Native American perspective)
"The Goat and the Gazelle: Witchcraft" by TM Luhrmann (a perspective on Wicca)
"Voodoo" by Karen McCarthy Brown (an overview of this syncretic religion that combines Catholicism and African ancestor/spirit worship)
"Urban Rastas in Kingston, Jamaica" by William F. Lewis (Rastafarianism)
"The Veil in Their Minds and on Our Heads: Veiling Practices and Muslim Women" by Homa Hoodfar (an excellent overview of the controversy surrounding veiling of women in Western societies, what the veil means to Muslim women, and why people choose to veil. I really recommend this to help understand one of the more controversial practices of Islam.)
Most of my studies have been in Asian and "primitive" religions- the religions of traditional/indigenous peoples, so I'm not much help for resources on Catholicism (I would suggest you contact Quahom about that- he seems very knowledgeable about it), Islam, or Judaism.
The Religious Tolerance website is a bit biased, but still one of the best I've found, especially dealing with intros to some of the neo-Pagan religions.
I'm a sort of Quaker-Christian-mystic-Druid hybrid. Quakerism is one form of Protestantism, but is quite distinctive. If you're interested, I'd try
http://www.quaker.org/ or specifically for the basics:
http://www.quaker.org/friends.html
Edited to add: a good website on Christian mystics is:
http://www.christianmystics.com/
Druidry is very diverse, and while the Religious Tolerance site tries to put out the basics, the truth is that different Druid organizations are
really different. Some are religions, while others are spiritual paths and/or philosophies. There are druid organizations that are neo-Pagan religions, like A Druid Fellowship. I'd suggest looking at ADF's website to learn about them:
http://www.adf.org/core/
I am not neo-Pagan, but I'm still modern Druid (no one, of course, is Druid in the ancient sense of the word). For me, it is a spiritual path and philosophy. To check out the largest organization of those kind of Druids, try:
http://www.druidry.org/. In the same website, there is an excellent series of articles that discusses how Christianity is often being merged with Druidry:
http://www.druidry.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=PagEd&file=index&topic_id=1&page_id=103. This may also give you insight into how some of the modern "neo-Pagan" or magickal traditions are being merged by individuals with other major world religions such as Christianity and Judaism. Currently, while neo-Pagan and hybrid movements are still relatively small, they are increasing at an enormous rate. People in many areas are becoming more individualistic in their beliefs and practices, so it is important to remember that people may identify with one thing, but actually practice several, or may identify with several different religious traditions. Syncretism has always been happening in the religions of the world (meshing and overlapping various world religions with local, indigenous ones), but we're starting to do this more consciously and individually.
